Summer Hoot promises plenty of music

Thursday

Aug 22, 2013 at 7:58 AMAug 22, 2013 at 8:01 AM

With just five months distance from the Ashokan Center's inaugural Winter Hoot Festival in February, founders of that and its seasonal companion the Summer Hoot dedicated its outdoor stage Aug. 10 to Toshi Seeger.

DB Leonard

With just five months distance from the Ashokan Center's inaugural Winter Hoot Festival in February, founders of that and its seasonal companion the Summer Hoot dedicated its outdoor stage Aug. 10 to Toshi Seeger. Husband Pete met Toshi – who died July 9 – at a barn dance some 50 years earlier, so it is no coincidence that the festival includes a dance at the Ashokan Center's newly renovated barn.

Every summer, the Ashokan Center hosts its fiddle and dance camps. Musicians serve as instructors during the sessions and perform rootsy versions of folk music during the evenings. The legendary Pete Seeger, along with 27 other regional and national acts, will be performing at this year's debut Summer Hoot, a celebration of all things down-home and local.

“Ruthy and I have been touring big and small festivals all around the country for the last 13 years,” said Mike Merenda, co-founder of the Hoot Festival with wife and partner Ruthy Ungar. “We've been wanting to start something similar where we live.”

“And we want people to walk away with the feeling that they wouldn't miss the next one,” added Ungar.

Mike and Ruthy, an indie roots duo, has been making the rounds along the regional folk and indie rock circuit. On the way, the couple has converted its share of fellow musicians to the cause of the Hoot. One of the prime objectives of the festival is to introduce these regional acts to the Hudson Valley.

“Every band that is playing is a personal friend of ours,” said Merenda.

Mike and Ruthy formed more than a decade ago in New York City but returned to West Hurley a decade ago to recommit their energies to the Hudson Valley. Carrying their newborn in one hand and a fiddle in the other, Ruthy gave a speech at the Aug. 10 ceremony, a simple gathering of volunteers, musicians, environmentalists and activists, who commemorated the stage with a Seeger song and a bottle of whiskey.

The stage will be a permanent installation at the Ashokan Center, the home of the Hoot. It faces a gentle hill, and the audience can gather comfortably to upward of 500, with plenty of grass to spare.

Over the last several years, Ruthy's parents, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, helped redefine the Ashokan Center as a foundation that takes over year-round responsibility of coordinating the environmental education program at the Ashokan Field Campus, formerly owned by SUNY. The Center is an institution in which the building themselves are teaching tools, utilizing cutting-edge green technology. Now with a newly renovated campus on higher ground, Ashokan is investing permanently on the grounds and in the region.

“Ashokan is our partner in this,” said Ruthy Ungar. All proceeds from the festival will benefit its environmental education program.

With the children and future generations of “Hooters” in mind, Mike and Ruthy have curated a family-friendly affair. Children's acts such as Uncle Rock, Elizabeth Mitchell and Dan Zanes will be given the same production values and billing as the headliners, who include Pete Seeger, Natalie Merchant, Dan Bern and the Dirt Farmer Band.